Hair piece and method of making and permanently attaching same



Oct. 25, 1966 c. M. JENKINS AND METHOD OF RMANENTLY ATTACHING MAKING AND PE HAIR PIECE Filed June 10, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet l 3 INVENTOR.

CHRISTINA M. JENKINS ATTORNEYS Oct. 25, 1966 c. M. JENKINS HAIR PIECE AND METHOD OF MAKING AND PERMANENTLY ATTACHING SAME Filed June 10, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

FIG. 8

Jar 6.7%

ATTORNEYS Oct. 25, 1966 c. M. JENKINS 3,280,826

HAIR PIECE AND METHOD OF MAKING AND PERMANENTLY ATTACHING SAME Filed June 10, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 13 INVENTOR. CHRISTINA M. JENKINS BY a ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,280,826 HAIR PIECE AND METHOD OF MAKING AND PERMANENTLY ATTACHING SAME Christina M. Jenkins, 10209 Columbia Ave., Cleveland, Ohio Filed June 10, 1963, Ser. No. 286,559 7 Claims. (Cl. 132-5) This invention relates to a hair piece and more particularly to a hair piece composed of commercial or false hair adapted to be applied to the human head by securing the same to existing live hair.

There has been disclosed in my prior patent, US. Patent No. 2,621,663, a method of permanently attaching commercial hair to the live hair on the head. Broadly, this method contemplates mounting on the head a base of attachment for the commercial hair by interweaving strands of live hair with a base material and then attaching a switch, weft or like accessory of commercial hair to the base. With this method, the commercial hair is permanently attached to the live hair and serves to give the live hair the appearance of greater length and thickness as well as cover bald spots, thin spots, or scars.

Satisfactory as the above-described method has been, it has required the aid of an additional person in order properly to attach the hair pieces. Thus, it has been necessary for the wearer not only to have assistance in obtaining the initial attachment of hair, but also in obtaining periodic tightenings wherein the commercial hair is removed and reattached close to the scalp.

Aside from the requirement of an additional person to attach the hair, the prior known methods have included the formation of a base member which is attached to the live hair by a weaving process. Such a step is tedious, time consuming, and expensive, particularly since the base member must be removed and rewoven periodically as the live hair grows causing the base member to be separated from the scalp.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a hair piece accessory which may be permanently attached to the head with greater ease, less expense and less time than was heretofore possible.

Another object of this invention is to provide a hair piece which may be permanently attached directly to the live hair on the head.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a commercial hair piece having clip fasteners which may be secured to the live hair on the head thereby permanently to attach the hair piece to the head.

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide a commercial hair accessory comprising a weft of commercial hair, singularly or folded upon itself a plurality of times, and having a plurality of fastener clips secured thereto.

It is another specific object of this invention to provide a plurality of folded hair pieces secured side by side and having fastener clips secured thereto for permanent attachment to the live hair on the head.

It is a still more specific object of this invention to provide a commercial hair accessory having a plurality of folded layers and a base portion formed by stitching successive layers together with the base portion serving as a base for fastener means which are attached thereto and adapted to be removably secured to the live hair on the head.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a hair piece comprised of a weft of commercial hair, folded upon itself a predetermined number of times with successive layers of the weft being secured to the preceding layers by rows of stitches, and with the stitched portion forming a foundation on which are secured fastener clips adapted to be attached to the live hair on the head.

3,280,826 Patented Oct. 25, 1966 "ice It is a still further object of this invention to provide a method of making a hair piece adapted to be attached to the live hair on the head.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method for fabricating a commercial hair piece comprising the steps of folding a commercial weft upon itself, stitching the folded weft, refolding the weft, and restitching the newly folded portions and continuing the above folding and stitching thereby to form a laminated hair piece with the stitched portion forming a foundation for receiving clip fasteners.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a method of forming a commercial hair accessory adapted to be attached to the live hair on the head and comprising a weft of commercial hair, folded upon itself a predetermined number of times, with the folds of the weft being secured together by fastener clips stitched thereto and adapted to be attached to the live hair.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends and objects, said invention then consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description setting forth in detail some approved means of carrying out the invention, such disclosed means, however, constituting but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be used.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the term commercial hair refers to the type of material that is commercially available and is ordinarily used as a supplement to the live or natural hair. This may be known as false hair, simulated hair, or some other such term.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of the commercial hair piece of this invention attached to the head of a wearer.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a commercially available hair weft from which the hair piece is fabricated.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a view of the weft illustrated in FIG. 2 folded upon itself.

FIG. 5 is a view taken along line 55 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 illustrates the folded weft joined together at the upper edges thereof.

FIG. 7 is an end view of FIG. 6 along line 77 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 illustrates the folded weft with a portion of the commercial hair folded back and stitching passing through the remainder.

FIG. 9 is an end view along line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a view of the completed hair piece with a portion of the commercial hair folded back.

FIG. 11 is an end view of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is an alternative embodiment similar to the hair piece of FIG. 10.

FIG. 13 illustrates the initial formation of a further modification.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the completed modification of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 illustrates the embodiment of FIG. 14 on the head of a wearer.

Turning first to FIG. 10, there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the instant invention. The hair piece is indicated generally by the reference numeral 10 and comprises a plurality of strands of commercially available hair 11 attached to and depending from a thin, elongated flexible member 12. As shown in FIG. 11, the hair 11 is in the form of a multiplicity of layers or laminates.

Secured to the hair piece 10 at the upper portion adjacent to the flexible member 12 are a plurality of snap fasteners 13. The fasteners are spaced along the length of the hair piece 10 and are secured to the hair piece by appropriate stitching 14. Each fastener comprises a flat base 15 with a spring clip 16 hingedly secured to the base and adapted to cooperate with the upstanding lug 17 projecting from the base 15. It should be noted that, although stitching has been used to secure the fasteners 13 to the hair piece, other methods such as gluing or stapling, for example, may be employed to accomplish the same purpose.

It may be seen that with the hair piece as briefly outlined, the prospective wearer may secure the hair piece to the existing hair by the following method. The user first would comb a portion of the live hair out of the way of the proposed area of attachment in a manner similar to forming a part in the hair. The next step would be to place the hair piece along the line of the part with the fasteners adjacent to the scalp. With the hair piece in this position, several strands of live hair are wrapped around each of the clips 16 with each clip then being pressed over its associated lug 17 thereby permanently attaching the hair piece to the natural hair on the head. It should be noted that in lieu of wrapping the live hair around the clips 16, it is within the contemplation of this invention simply to insert the live hair between the clip 16 and the base 15. The final step in attaching the hair piece is to return the previously parted live hair to its initial position, thereby concealing from view the area of attachment. This is illustrated in FIG. 1 wherein the hair piece is shown, with the area of attachment illustrated in dotted lines, as it would appear when permanently attached to the live hair on the head of a wearer.

The hair piece of FIG. is constructed by the steps illustrated in FIGS. 2-11. FIG. 2 illustrates a commercially available weft 20 which comprises the strands of hair 11 secured to the flexible member 12. A commercial weft 20 of a predetermined length is selected and folded upon itself in the manner shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, thus presenting a double layer of the strands of hair 11 and a doubled flexible member 12. The folded weft may be secured together by passing a thread 21 around the doubled flexible member 12 thereby securing the folds in position. This step may be deleted if so desired but it has the virtue of retaining the wefts in position during the remaining steps.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate the folded Weft of FIG. 6 with a portion of the commercial hair 22 folded back from the main body of the hair 11. With the hair 22. uplifted, a line of stitching 23 is passed through the remaining por- 4 tion of the commercial hair 11, thereby securing together the two folded layers. I

Turning to FIG. 11, it may be seen that additional lines of stitching 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 may pass through the commercial hair 11 with each line of stitching being preceded by folding back an additional portion of the hair, thereby providing a cover for the stitching when the hair is placed back in its original depending position. The placement of the stitching in the hair 11 serves as a means to rigidify that area of the-hair piece as well as to secure together the folded portions of the weft. Thus, by virtue of the lines of stitching 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, the area of the hair piece which is adapted to receive the fasteners 13" provides a more secure base or foundation for the attachment of the fasteners. With the fasteners attached by the stitching 14 to the base portion formed on the hair piece, the uplifted portion of the hair 11 may be re placed in its original depending position whereby all prior stitching is covered from view and the hair piece presents an unblemished appearance.

Many variations of the hair-piece shown in FIG. 10 may be made. Thus, rather than making a single fold in the hair piece with a series of lines of stitches placed in various layers of the hair, it is within the contemplation of this invention to utilize and make a plurality of folds with a line'o'f stitching inserted after each fold. Upon the last fold, a layer of the hair would be lifted in the manner of FIG. 11 and another line of stitching passed.

through the weft to secure the last fold with the uplifted portion of the hair, when lowered, serving to conceal all of the previous stitches. Upon completion of these step: the clips would once again be secured to the base of th hair piece and the hair piece would then present an at: pearance similar to that illustrated in FIG. 10.

A modification of the hair piece of FIG. 10 is illus trated in FIG. 12 wherein a weft, similar to that show; in FIG. 2, is utilized. As shown in FIG. 12, a weft i coiled in a manner such that the flexible member 12 i reversely folded upon itself a plurality of times, with th folded portions of the member 12 being aligned in a verti cal plane. As distinguished from the hair piece of FIG 10, the layers of the commercial hair 11 are not securec together by stitching, but rather, the fasteners 13 are lair across the adjacent folds of the flexible member 12 ant stitching 29 is used to secure the fasteners to the flexibl member. The combination of the stitching 29 and tilt fasteners 13 serve the function of the lines of stitching illustrated in FIG. 11, and provide a means for securing each layer of the hair 11 in a proper position. Obviously the number of folds of the weft in FIG. 12 may be varied and the positioning of the clips on the hair piece is but a matter of choice. The hair piece of FIG. 12 is attached to the head of the wearer in the manner identical to that utilized in attaching the hair piece of FIG. 10.

Many other modifications will suggest itself to those having ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the hair pieces of FIG. 10-and FIG. 12 might be used with varying combinations of stitches and clips. For example, the hair piece of FIG. 10 might be fabricated in the manner illustrated with the exception that fewer lines of stitches or no stitches at all would be used to secure the adjacent layers of the hair together. Similarly, various lines of stitches might be placed in the hair piece of FIG. 12 in a manner similar to FIG. 10 thereby to accomplish the secu-rement function. Additionally, it is within the contemplation of this invention to fabricate hair pieces in the manner of either FIG. 10 or FIG. 12 and join the hair pieces end to end whereby the overall length of the hair piece would be increased.

A further modification is illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14 wherein a weft, similar to that shown in FIG. 2, is again utilized. The weft is coiled in the manner shown in FIG. 13 with stitches 30 securing each turn of the coil to the adjacent turns. As shown in FIG. 14, a plurality of the spiral coils 30 are fabricated, each in the manner shown in FIG. 13 and, upon completion of a predetermined number of these coils, they are placed side by side and joined together by cross stitches 32, thus producing a unitary hair piece. With the coils joined together, the clips 13 may be attached to the base or foundation formed by the ends of the coils. Again, the positioning of the clips in FIG. 14 is purely illustrative with the number and orientation of the clips being dependent upon the particular application of the hair piece.

Each of the pieces of FIG. 10, FIG. 12, and FIG. 14 may be modified to the extent that the clips are only indirectly secured to the hair piece. Thus, it is within the realm of contemplation of this invention to secure the clips 13 to a backing material and in turn secure the backing material to the hair piece by means of appropriate stitching rather than securing each individual clip to the hair piece directly.

The modification of FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 maybe fur-. ther modified in that the clips 13, in a manner similar to that discussed above relative to FIGS. 10 and 12, serve as the sole means for securing adjacent turns of the coils thereby obviating the stitches 31. Also, the clips may be used as a means of obviating the stitching 32 by placing the clips across adjacent coils and thereby using the clip as a means for securing the coils in adjacent relationship.

In view of the above-discussed embodiments and modifications, it is believed apparent that the objects set forth are fully satisfied. Thus, there is provided a hair piece which is quickly and easily attachable to the head of a wearer. Further, the hair piece is fabricated from a commercially available weft of hair and comprises a series of folds of the weft with adjacent folds secured together and a securing means attached to a base portion formed by the folds with the securing means functioning as the sole means for attaching the completed hair piece to the live hair.

For ease of description, the principles of the invention have been set forth in connection with but a few illustrated embodiments. It is not my intention that the illustrated embodiments or the terminology employed in describing them to be limiting inasmuch as variations, other than those discussed, may be made Without departing from the spirit of the invention; but rather, it is my desire to be restricted only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A method of making a hair piece adapted to be secured to the live hair on the head comprising,

folding a weft having a base portion and commercial hair secured thereto a predetermined number of times with said folded base portions forming a foundation,

providing fastener means having a plurality of apertures therethrough,

placing said fastener means against said folded base portions, and

securing said adjacent folds of said weft together by passing stitches through the apertures in said fastener means and through the foundation formed by said folded base portion to secure said portions in folded relationship.

2. The method of claim 1 including the step of passing stitches through said adjacent folds of said weft at least in the areas intermediate said fastener means.

3. A method of making a hair piece adapted to be secured to the live hair on the head comprising,

folding upon itself a weft having a base portion and commercial hair secured to and depending therefrom,

separating a portion of said commercial hair from the main body of said commercial hair,

inserting stitching through the remaining body of said commercial hair,

retaining said first portion of hair in a separated position and additionally separating a second portion of the commercial hair, inserting another line of stitching through the remaining unseparated portion of said commercial hair,

continuing to insert lines of stitching through the main body of the commcercial hair with each line of stitching being preceded by a portion of the body of the commercial hair being separated until a predetermined number of stitches have been inserted,

attaching a plurality of clip fasteners to that portion of the commercial hair which contains the abovementioned lines of stitching.

4. A method of making a hair piece adapted to be secured to the live hair on the head comprising,

folding a weft having a base portion with commercial hair secured thereto in the form of a spiral,

securing adjacent folds of the Weft by inserting stitches passing through the adjacent folds of the base portion,

folding a predetermined number of other wefts and stitching the same in a manner identical to the formation of said first weft,

securing said predetermined number of wefts in side by side relationship with the spirally folded base portions being in alignment,

applying fasteners to the spirally folded base portions of said predetermined number of wefts.

5. The method of making a commercial hair piece adapted to supplement the live hair on the head comprising,

folding a weft having a flexible base portion and commercial hair secured thereto in the form of a spiral with adjacent folds of said base portion being in close proximity one with the other,

stitching the folds of the spirally folded weft by cross stitches passing between adjacent folds of said base portion thereby to secure adjacent folds together and provide a foundation,

folding and stitching a predetermined number of other wefts in the manner of said first Weft,

placing said predetermined number of wefts side by side with the spirally folded base portions of each weft being aligned with the base portions of the other wefts, and

interconnecting said predetermined number of wefts at adjacent edge portions.

6. A hair piece adapted to be attached to the natural hair on the head comprising,

a flexible base portion,

commercial hair secured to said flexible base portion and depending therefrom,

said flexible base portion being folded upon itself in the form of a spiral with the adjacent folds of said base portion forming a foundation area,

fastener means on said foundation area formed by said flexible base portion, and means securing said fastener means to said spiral folded base portions.

7. A hair piece comprising,

an elongated flexible base member,

a multiplicity of strands of commercial hair secured to said base member and depending therefrom, said base member being folded upon itself at least once, a plurality of lines of stitches in said commercial hair adjacent to and extending along said flexible base portion thereby securing said folded flexible member and said commercial hair in a folded relationship,

fastener means secured to said commercial hair overlying said plurality of lines of stitches.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 431,837 7/1890 Borden 132-53 966,110 8/1910 Matthews l3253 1,346,718 7/1920 Muller 132105 X 1,686,636 10/1928 Oppenheim 132-53 X 2,651,310 9/1953 Selson 132-53 X RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

L. W. TRAPP, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A METHOD OF MAKING A HAIR PIECE ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO THE LIVE HAIR ON THE HEAD COMPRISING, FOLDING A WEFT HAVING A BASE PORTION AND COMMERICAL HAIR SECURED THERETO A PREDETERMINED NUMBER OF TIMES WITH SAID FOLDED BASE PORTIONS FORMING OF FOUNDATION, PROVIDING FASTENER MEANS HAVING A PLURALITY OF APERTURES, THERETHROUGH, PLACING SAID FASTENER MEANS AGAINST SAID FOLDED BASE PORTIONS, AND SECURING SAID ADJACENT FOLDS OF SAID WEFT TOGETHER BY PASSING STITCHES THROUGH THE APERATURES IN SAID FASTENER MEANS AND THROUGH THE FOUNDATION FORMED BY SAID FOLDED BASE PORTION TO SECURE SAID PORTIONS IN FOLDED RELATIONSHIP. 